Document Type
Article
Keywords
military, social work, veterans
Disciplines
Social and Behavioral Sciences | Social Work
Abstract
Service members and veterans face a myriad of health mental health and social challenges stemming from the combat and operational stressors experienced during deployment and the challenges of reintegration to civilian life. To intervene effectively with this population social workers must be knowledgeable about these issues and the cultural context within which they occur. While schools of social work across the country are developing course work in military social work, little is known about the learning outcomes of these courses. This paper describes a military social work course that was developed to increase student preparedness to work with a military or veteran population and the learning outcomes achieved. Using a quasi- experimental pre post design the learning outcomes of students enrolled in the course were compared to a group of students who had not taken the course. To measure this knowledge, a 50-item Military Social Work Knowledge Scale was developed for the study. Significant differences between pre and posttest scores were found for the social work students enrolled in the course. Specific areas of knowledge that increased for the class participants included knowledge about cultural sensitivity to military populations and knowledge about service and advocacy frameworks.
Article Number
1001
Publication Date
2014
Recommended Citation
Forgey, Mary Ann and Young, Sharon L, "Increasing military social work knowledge: An evaluation of learning outcomes." (2014). Social Service Faculty Publications. 4.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/gss_facultypubs/4
